Hymn 283: "When we survey the wondrous cross..."
Prov. 8: "Doth not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures. The LORD possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth: when He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: when He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD. But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death."
In this lovely chapter that we have read, dear young people, I believe we have a very interesting and important message for us. In the first seven chapters of Proverbs we have a father instructing his children. You notice that almost every chapter begins with "My son". God intends that we who are parents should be the ones to instruct our children, to teach them, to warn them, to encourage them to walk in wisdom's ways. But, when we come to this eighth chapter we find the voice of wisdom speaking, not the parents here, but wisdom speaking. We saw that the Lord Jesus is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.(1 Cor. 1:3030But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)) I like to think of the picture that is brought before us here, the young person walking out from under the parental restraint; walking out the door of his home and going to meet new friends, going out into the paths of concourse, perhaps going to work, going to school, going to college. He is no longer under the instruction of his father and mother, but, now there is a voice that calls to him. It is the voice of wisdom. It instructs him. It tells him the path of blessing and happiness. It tells him of the path in which God can show the blessing that He delights to bestow upon him. Because of this, I believe it is of special interest to us who are young people. More than this, it is a contrast to what we have in the chapter before. Prov. 7:66For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, (Proverbs 7:6), "For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding." Here was a young man who started out and he didn't intend anything wrong. He was just going to go out and see what the world had to offer. It doesn't say that he had set his mind on something evil and sinful-he was simply undirected. He was one without any real purpose or motive or object in life. Oh dear young people, is there someone here like that? You say, "I don't intend to get into sinful ways, I don't intend to get away from the Lord," but you are going through a dangerous world. Here we find King Solomon looking out his window and he saw this young man. He saw him walking aimlessly down the street and his attention was attracted by a very promising looking young lady. She lured him away and she mined his life. She ruined his life. This is a common history. This is something that has happened thousands of times since then, because young people have started out in life without any real purpose, without any real direction. They wanted to see what life had to offer. They thought they were only young once and they must find out for themselves and not just go by what father and mother said. Perhaps the Word of God was a little bit old fashioned and so they were going to try to find happiness in their own ways. They didn't, of course, intend to get into positive sin, much less to ruin their lives, but it was an aimless life. Oh dear young people, you need not walk an aimless life through this world. There are two particular forms of evil in the world, violence and corruption. We see them both set before us in the previous chapters. Our hearts are prone to these things. If we don't have both positive direction and strength from the Lord we will surely fall. We were noticing that when the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, it says they were to have their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand.(Ex. 12:1111And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover. (Exodus 12:11)) Why does it say they were to have their staff in their hand? It doesn't say just the old people were to have a staff in hand. We would have understood that, but it just simply makes a general statement: their staff in their hand. Did teenagers need a staff? Weren't they steady enough on their feet that they wouldn't need a staff in hand? Dear young people, you need a staff in your hand, and we who are older, we need a staff in our hand too. We are prone to stumble, we need support outside of ourselves. Do you have a staff in your hand? Are you walking in dependence upon the Lord? Or are you simply trying to get what you can out of life? That is the primary subject in this chapter. You will notice as the chapter ends it says, "Whoso findeth Me findeth life." I know every one of you is out to find life. You say, "I want to see life. I want to get something out of life." Well it tells us in this chapter, "Whoso findeth Me findeth life." Isn't it a wonderful thing that the One who created you and me and who made this very world in which we live is interested enough in us that He should give us such instruction in His word. I might say that in the book of Proverbs we don't have about redemption. God is talking to His people, as His people. The name that is used for God in Proverbs is the name Jehovah, which is the name God took in relationship to His people Israel. In that sense, it is especially addressed to those who are in relationship to the Lord. If there should be anyone here who is not saved, I know that you are not in that relationship-this has no particular appeal to your heart because your heart is at enmity with God. But I have good news for you just the same. God is interested in you. God doesn't want you to ruin and wreck your life. He doesn't want you, not only to have a miserable life in this world, but when you leave it to plunge into a lost eternity. No, God is seeking your blessing. The very first words that God spoke after sin entered into the world were, "Adam where art thou?"(Gen. 3:99And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Genesis 3:9)) God became a seeking God and He is still seeking. He is seeking you. He is seeking your blessing. He wants you, first of all, to know that although you are a sinner, Christ died to save you. He wants you to know that the fact that you were born in sin is not necessarily that which will ruin your life because the work of Christ has so completely taken up and settled the question of sin, that untold blessing is open for you here in this life, and for all eternity. You can lead a successful life, you can lead a happy life, if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior and you seek to walk in obedience to His Word.
This chapter begins not by saying as a father speaking to the son, but it says, "Doth not wisdom cry?" I want to say that you and I can never value sufficiently the wonderful portion that we have in this book. I know that today this book is being set aside on every hand. I know that it is being attacked, it is being assailed. You and I can't fully appreciate what a wonderful, wonderful thing it is that God has taken the trouble to speak to us. He tells us where we came from, what is at the end of life's journey, and, in a few simple words, tells us the facts as to the origin of everything in this world in which we live. He also tells us how He breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Then, when man sinned, how God was not frustrated in His purposes of good and blessing toward man. Through the redemption that was accomplished on Calvary He has opened up even greater blessing than if sin had never entered. What a heart the heart of God is. Dear young people, prize your Bible, prize your Bible. It is the most wonderful thing that you have in your possession. You can rely upon it. The school books that most of us studied in school are so far outdated now that our children just laugh if they happen to see one of them. But here we have a book, the last part of it written about 1900 years ago, and it is more up to date than any book in the world. It is suited to the time in which we live. It adapts itself to every community. It adapts itself to every condition. It answers all the problems of home life, of business life, of assembly life. It tells us the future with a certainty that has been proven over and over again in spite of all the attacks of infidelity. What a privilege to possess such a book. What a privilege to read it, what a privilege to meditate upon it. This is the voice of wisdom to us, it is God's Word. I want to say, never never take one step in disobedience to it knowingly. It can't be for your blessing. God loves you and more than this, He can't make a mistake. It says, "As for God, His way is perfect."(2 Sam. 22:3131As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. (2 Samuel 22:31)) He wants to bless you.
We have a picture here in the beginning of this chapter. It says, "She(Wisdom) standeth in the top of the high places, by the way in the places of the paths." Another translation says, "The cross-paths." Let us picture this in our minds. Here's a young person who has been under parental restraint. He has been under the correction and instruction of his parents. Now he walks out the door and a little voice inside says, "Now you can do as you like." If you follow the prompting of your fallen nature, what you like will lead you in the same way that it led Adam and Eve. It will lead you into that which will only be sorrow and ruin. But wisdom cries and here this young person comes to the cross paths. He comes to a place where he finds two roads. What is he going to do? Should he say, "Well, I don't know. I suppose I should try them both and I will find out which one is the best." "Oh no," wisdom says, "you don't have to do that. You don't have to waste your time and bring sorrow into your life by going down the wrong one. I will tell you which path to choose." As the young person stands at the cross paths the voice of wisdom cries and says, "I will direct you. I am seeking your happiness. I am not here to spoil your fun, I am here to give you happiness. I am here to make a real happy path for you here and a happy eternity above." So the young man has a voice that cries in his ears. Dear young people, that voice cries in your ears. Do you hearken to it? We all have come to these cross paths. We who are a little older were once young people who sat in these chairs and we came to cross paths. We came to places and there was a little urge within that said, "Well, you never know unless you try." Thank God if we hearken to the voice of God's Word. How many of us look back and we say, "It was just the sheer goodness of God that kept me from going down the wrong path. What sorrow I would have had and I don't know why I didn't do it. I can only say it was the goodness of God."
Dear young people, wisdom is crying in your ears. Perhaps there is a young man or a young woman here today who is at a cross path in your life right now. You have left the parental home. You are away from the restraints. You have met a situation that your parents don't even know about, perhaps, but the Lord knows. He loves you and He wants to give you direction. He wants to show you the path to take and His word will give you the answer.
Then she moves a little further down. "She crieth at the gates." The young man had come to these cross paths. Now he comes to the gate of the city. Here again, he is about to enter some new situation. He is about to come into a new place of employment, a new friendship, and right at the gate, right at the very point of entry, the place where he (or she) is about to make a very important step, wisdom cries again and says, "Unto you O men I call: and my voice is to the sons of men." Wisdom moves a step farther from the gates right to the door, right to the very point where you are going to enter into some situation, and again, wisdom cries. Wisdom is crying to you young people. I feel as I look into your faces with life ahead of you, how much we need those amongst us today who will go on for the Lord Jesus, who will live for Him, who will make Him the object of life. The little hymn that we sang says, "Love that transcends our highest power demands our soul, our life, our all."(Little Flock #283) Doesn't love have a claim on you? Hasn't the Lord Jesus done everything love could do to prove His love toward you?
Then it says in the 5th verse, "0 ye simple, understand wisdom." "O ye simple." What it means is, the uninstructed one. It doesn't mean a person of below average intelligence. That isn't the thought in this verse. "Oh," you say, "I neglected to read my Bible and so I don't know what to do." It's as if wisdom says, "Well, then don't take a step until you know." Because the young man in the chapter before didn't know what to do so he did the wrong thing. He yielded. Often when we say, "I haven't read my Bible like I should," then we go ahead and rashly run into some foolish path. Then afterward we have to say, "Why didn't I know the Bible said that? Why didn't I know that warning was in God's Word?" How many a person has come to that point. It says, "0 ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools be ye of an understanding heart. Hear for I will speak of excellent things and the opening of my lips shall be right things." It is not just simply walking in the wisdom that you have, but it is rather when you come to some point, if you don't have wisdom, waiting on the Lord for it, turning to His Word, seeking light and instruction from It. I believe that there is an answer in the Word of God to every situation that may arise. There is not a place that you come to in your pathway where there isn't some light and wisdom and instruction in the Word of God for you. God hasn't left you without wisdom and instruction. It is there in the Word. So it says here, "I will speak of excellent things." So rather than taking the wrong step we are encouraged here to wait until we have heard wisdom's voice.
Then the 8" verse says, "All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them." I think the Darby translation says, "There is nothing tortuous." That is, it is not something difficult. I know the devil whispers in your ear when you hear the Word of God, "That is a hard path. If you follow that path you are going to have a lot of trouble. You have to make some of these decisions on your own. You just can't follow the Word of God in every detail." It says in John's epistle, "His commandments are not grievous."(1 John 5:33For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:3)) His commandments are not grievous. Ask any person who has sought to walk in the wisdom of God's Word if he is sorry that he did. Ask him if he has found it a tortuous path. Ask him if he has found it a path that was so hard and difficult that he almost wishes he had done differently. It is not so, dear young people. It is not so. There is nothing tortuous or perverse. There is nothing that is so hard and difficult about the pathway. It says, "They are all plain to him that understandeth." That is, if there is a willingness to do what is pleasing to the Lord, He will show us.
He will make it plain. It says in Phil. 3:1515Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. (Philippians 3:15) "If in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." Perhaps you might say when you come to some matter or situation, "I am going to ask the advice of a few others." So you go and you ask the advice of certain ones about your path. Instead of going to the Word of God, you go to ones that you think perhaps will give you an answer that will justify your careless walk. You will find such among the people of God. You will find Christians that will actually tell you that it is alright to sidestep a little bit. They seem like good friends, they are so agreeable, they are so nice, and you listen to them. We have to be careful, dear young people, that we turn to the Word of God, that we seek our instruction from it, and from those who have sought to walk in obedience to it. If there is a willingness, God will teach us. We just need to be willing. It says, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."(John 7:1717If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:17)) Do you really want to know what is pleasing to the Lord? If there is a real willingness, He will make it known to you-He will make it known.
It tells us here in the 10" verse, "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold." When we come to such points in life, how often it is a question of prosperity.
Perhaps you are faced with a situation and you know if you act in obedience to the Word of God it may stand in the way of a promotion. It may stand in the way of some material thing that you really wanted. The enemy says, "You can't afford to miss this opportunity, you can't afford to do it. There are many other Christians who have done it and you must just go along." So you decide that it would be better to accept that better job, accept that more pleasant situation, where there is more financial return. But, all the time that you are doing it, you have a bad conscience. You know there is something connected with it that is not just the way it should be. You come to the meeting and you find that your mouth is closed. You would like to praise the Lord, you would like to take part, but you just feel that you have lost the joy of the Lord in your soul. Dear young people, is it worth it? "Oh", you say, "I got a nice increase in my pay and I put a little more in the collection box." God doesn't need your money. He wants your obedience. Isn't it better that you should please Him? If you walk to please the Lord, when you come to the meeting you will be enjoying the Lord. You will have something to give. Perhaps you say, "When we come to the meeting there doesn't seem to be much fresh ministry. There doesn't seem to be much to refresh the soul." But what did you bring, what did you bring to the meeting? Perhaps you had a bad conscience and you hoped somebody else would be enjoying the Lord because you weren't. But they did the same thing you did-they did something that gave them a bad conscience and that is why they couldn't give you anything for your soul. Oh dear young people, I am speaking, I trust, in love. I say it with humility, I trust, because I am a poor failing thing myself. If you want to go on for the Lord and have His joy and be a blessing among your brethren, you will come to the cross paths in the youth of your life. How important these decisions are. There is something better than wealth. To have the wisdom of God for our pathway is better than all the wealth in the world. Money doesn't bring happiness. It never has. It never will. The best definition ever given for it was: money is the universal passport to every place but heaven and can purchase everything but happiness. So, it says here there is something better than silver, there is something better than gold. It is to have the sense in your soul that you are seeking to please the Lord, the sense in your soul that you have sought to walk in wisdom's ways. Oh what a sweetness, what a sweetness. It isn't that we don't fail. We all fail. But is it our desire to walk in obedience to the Word of God? All of us confess we stumble in the path, but what a sad thing to get out of it and then to stumble where there is no one to help his fellow.
Then we come a little farther to the 13th verse, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate." This is another danger-pride, self. How the enemy likes to fill our hearts with pride. I suppose there have been more lives that have been ruined by pride and arrogancy than anything else. Let us ask ourselves, how do we take correction? Does it make us annoyed, do we get upset? That is because there is unjudged pride in our hearts. "Oh," you say, "They falsely accused me!" Well, even if they did, we still could have done it. I have sometimes said if someone falsely accuses you, just say this to yourself. "Well I could have done it and I would have done it but for the grace of God. Why should I be angry about it?" We could have done it. There isn't a thing that any of our brethren could say about us that we couldn't have done if the Lord hadn't kept us and there isn't anything that we wouldn't have done if the Lord hadn't kept us. Why do we get proud, why do we get angry and upset about it? We are really saying, "I would never do that" and that was the very thing that the Lord allowed to show us so that we would judge that pride in our heart. Let us seek grace to judge that pride, and to judge it when we are young. It is a lot easier to correct these things when we are younger than when we are older.
Then in the 14th verse it says, "Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding, I have strength. By me kings reign and princes decree justice." There is another question that might arise in a young person's mind. "If I do such and such a thing, my friends will be against me. My employer won't like me." So we think we have to do wrong sometimes. Well isn't it nice what it says here, "Counsel is mine," and then it says, "By me kings reign." Do you know who holds that employer's heart in His hands? It is the Lord Himself. That employer can't do one thing against you unless the Lord allows it. He can't do one thing, not one thing. You say, "Well I have to go along with him sometimes when he wants me to do what is wrong. "No," the Lord says, "You just turn to Me, because his heart is in My hand." Dear young Christian, this is something to remember. That teacher in school, that professor, that employer, that brother in the assembly, the Lord holds his heart in His hands. Did you ever think that the attitude of other people toward you is caused in them by the Lord? It says in the 105th Psalm, "He turned their heart to hate His people."(Psa. 105:2525He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants. (Psalm 105:25)) Why did He turn the hearts of the Egyptians to hate His people? He wanted them to get out of Egypt. Sometimes God makes adverse circumstances for us because He has some move that He wants us to make. Maybe we are too content to stay in a place where He doesn't want us to be, so He allows something to come up. Oh, it is wonderful, everything is controlled by Him. Act to please the Lord and He will control everyone's heart. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water He turneth it whithersoever He will." (Prov. 21:11The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)) I remember a certain instance of a young man who sought to be faithful and it looked as if he was going to lose his job over it. But when he acted in faithfulness his employer said to him, "Well, I shouldn't let you off with this and I don't know why I am doing it, but I guess I will." Now why did he? Well his heart was in the Lord's hands and that person had sought to act to please the Lord. This is a grand principle in the Word of God. Don't be afraid to walk in wisdom's ways. God will take care of you, He will provide for you. He knows just what you need.
Notice the 21st verse. "That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasures." "I will fill their treasures." We have had some warnings, now here is something positive. "I will fill their treasures." If you seek to walk in the wisdom of God's word, He will fill your treasures. He will make your heart happy and glad. I don't say there won't be persecution sometimes. You may have a little less financially than other people, you may not always have favorable conditions in this world, but those things don't bring happiness. "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth."(Luke 12:1515And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (Luke 12:15)) To have the sense of the Lord's approval in your soul, to know that you are walking in company with Him is real happiness. What is going to make heaven heaven to us? Do you think it is the streets of gold and the gates of pearl? No, that is not what is going to make heaven heaven to us. It will be the company of the Lord Jesus. You and I can enjoy His company here and dear young people there is nothing sweeter on earth than to enjoy His companye where He wants you to be? Do you want to have the wrong partner in life? Do you want to wreck your life? Do you want to work in the wrong place? The Lord was thinking about you when He made everything. To my own soul it is touching here that He goes right back and talks about creation and tells us that when everything was ordered in the creation His delights were with the sons of men. What love, what a Savior we have, what a Father we have. Can we doubt love like that? Can we question that He is seeking our blessing? Can we be so self-willed and foolish as to say, "Well, I am going to have my own way. I don't care. I am going to go the way I wish." Dear young people, I beseech you for the Lord's glory and for the blessing of your soul. He wants to bless you. His delights are with the sons of men and He has made a better place than this world. He is waiting to bring you there and when you get there, He is going to sit down and serve you. That is how much He thinks about you, that is how much He loves you. You may have a little tribulation in this world because sin is here, but He is awaiting the time. He says, "Behold I come quickly."(Rev. 22:77Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. (Revelation 22:7)) Can we doubt love like this?e knew that there was going to be a group of young people here. He made a nice shore for us and He set it with beautiful trees and fixed it all because He was thinking about us. "My delights were with the sons of men." I want to impress this upon you and I want to impress it on my own soul. When God ordered everything, when He made you, when He made that young lady you hope will be your wife someday, or that young man whom you hope will be your husband some day, He was thinking about you and He was thinking of your blessing and your happiness. Do you want to get out of His plan? Do you want to get away from the place
where He wants you to be? Do you want to have the wrong partner in life? Do you want to wreck your life? Do you want to work in the wrong place? The Lord was thinking about you when He made everything. To my own soul it is touching here that He goes right back and talks about creation and tells us that when everything was ordered in the creation His delights were with the sons of men. What love, what a Savior we have, what a Father we have. Can we doubt love like that? Can we question that He is seeking our blessing? Can we be so self-willed and foolish as to say, "Well, I am going to have my own way. I don't care. I am going to go the way I wish." Dear young people, I beseech you for the Lord's glory and for the blessing of your soul. He wants to bless you. His delights are with the sons of men and He has made a better place than this world. He is waiting to bring you there and when you get there, He is going to sit down and serve you. That is how much He thinks about you, that is how much He loves you. You may have a little tribulation in this world because sin is here, but He is awaiting the time. He says, "Behold I come quickly."(Rev. 22:77Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. (Revelation 22:7)) Can we doubt love like this?
That is why it says here, "Now therefore, hearken unto me oh ye children." Oh I love this. Notice the change here. This is the first time children are mentioned. Before this it has spoken about the sons of men but here, a relationship. He loves us. Does your father love you? Well, the Lord Jesus loves you infinitely more. God your Father loves you infinitely more. "Hearken unto me O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not." Don't turn away from the wisdom of God's Word. No doubt, we all have much to learn. No doubt we all have many things that we haven't seen clearly yet, but, may God open our ears to hear His loving voice that seeks our blessing, that seeks our happiness.
So, the next verse says, "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." In other words, He is saying here, "If you are still not sure of your path just stand right here. Just wait a few minutes and I'll give you some instruction. I will show you what to do." Again, I say, dear young people, you may have come to a cross path in your life. You may have come to a problem that your parents or your brethren don't know about. There may be a terrible conflict that is waging in your heart right now. The enemy is trying to pull you aside into some foolish path, to some path of self-will or disobedience. The Lord says, "Wait a minute, just wait. I want you to have my blessing. I want you just to listen and wait and watch. Don't take a step until I have told you the direction to go in." How tender when he stops and changes from the sons of men and says, "0 ye children." Oh ye dear young people that are gathered here this afternoon. "For whoso findeth me findeth life. You say, "I want to see life." You will find it. Where will you find it? In the path of obedience to the Lord, of communion with Him according to His Word. I trust every dear young person here will find life. I don't mean being saved-maybe most of you are saved-but to find life is to find the path through this world where you can walk in fellowship with the Lord and where you can have the sense that the path is in obedience to His Word. It is the path of blessing.
But, there is a little warning. It says, "But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul." If you sin against the wisdom of God's word do you know whom you will wrong most of all? Yourself. Yes, our own soul. We are the ones we do the most harm to when we walk in disobedience to the will of God, when we choose a path of our own that is in direct opposition to that which God has revealed in His precious Word. "He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul." Dear young people, the Lord Jesus loves you, He died for you, He loves you more than father or mother. He wants your company. He is going to make you supremely happy in heaven forever and He wants to fill your treasures. He wants to direct your path. Don't go along aimlessly through life. Turn to Him. Seek the wisdom of His Word. "For the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and He addeth no sorrow with it."(Prov. 10:2222The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22))
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